Denver could spend $3.9 million to expand its managed homeless camp program this year, as the City Council housing committee is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a contract amendment allocating the funds.

If approved by the council, the contract would fund at least four camps run by Colorado Village Collaborative through the end of 2022, sheltering roughly 370 people through the year. This would increase the program’s total funding to just under $4.8 million.

Colorado Village Collaborative now runs three of the camps, called Safe Outdoor Spaces, in the parking lots of the Human Services East Office, Regis University and Denver Health. There have been a total of six camps throughout the city since the program began in late 2020.

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The campsites are fenced off and staffed 24/7, providing residents with heated tents, bathrooms, laundry services, internet, food, dental care, COVID-19 testing and services for finding permanent housing. At the end of 2021, Colorado Village Collaborative said the camps had housed over 120 people, with 17 moving into longer-term housing, 18 finding jobs and nearly all participating in over 350 case management appointments.

The $3.9 million would come from COVID-19 recovery funds from the American Rescue Plan Act. The spending plan, including the managed homeless camps, was already approved by the City Council in November. Only Councilwoman Amanda Sawyer voted against the plan.

“I’m just not willing to support $4 million for Safe Outdoor Spaces,” Sawyer said during a council meeting in November. “It’s something my district feels really strongly about. This money is meant for long-term investments and SOS sites are not a long-term solution.”

Councilman Chris Hinds, whose District 10 housed the city’s first two Safe Outdoor Spaces, defended the funding, calling the program transformative and an option for homeless residents who don’t want to be separated from their partners or pets in regular shelters.

“We’re in a housing crisis right now and, while I don’t believe Safe Outdoor Spaces are an appropriate long-term solution, we need middle-term and inter-term solutions,” Hinds said. “The Safe Outdoor Spaces are an amazing option that we added to our tool belt for the city.”

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The spending plan included a total of $50.3 million for housing and homelessness services. Of that, other major allocations included $28 million for the affordable housing fund and $7.47 million for operations at the 48th Avenue homeless shelter.

On Wednesday, the housing committee will also vote on contracts that would allocate $1.025 million to U.S. Motels Denver North for overflow homeless shelters, $1.7 million to Elevation Community Land Trust for income-restricted homeownership units and $3.732 million to Colorado Village Collaborative for the Denver Street Outreach Collaborative and Strategic Outreach to Large Encampments programs. 

In 2021, there were 5,530 homeless people living in shelters in the Denver metro area, according to an annual count. Another 1,185 people were living in the city unsheltered, according to estimates from Denver’s Department of Housing Stability.

A Metro Denver Homeless Initiative study released earlier this month found that unsheltered homelessness in metro Denver is likely much higher than previously thought, with about 40% of the homeless population living outdoors.

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